Profound Raises $96M for AI Marketing Agents
New York-based Profound, a marketing platform using AI agents, raised $96M in a Series C funding round at a $1B valuation. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia, with the company announcing plans to fill over 90 roles in its NYC office.
- Profound, founded in 2024 by CEO James Cadwallader and CTO Dylan Babbs, helps companies monitor and improve how their brands are portrayed by AI "answer engines". The company has raised a total of $155 million since its founding. - The company's "Profound Agents" platform allows marketers to automate and orchestrate marketing tasks directly within the platform, integrating with tools like HubSpot, Google Workspace, and Vercel. This is designed to address the shift from traditional SEO to "Answer Engine Optimization" as consumers increasingly use AI for discovery. - Lead investor Lightspeed Venture Partners recently closed a $9 billion fund to increase its investments in AI, having already backed over 165 AI-native companies with more than $5.5 billion. Sequoia Capital, another investor in Profound, has made 16 investments in AI so far in 2026 and has 132 unicorns in its portfolio. - The NYC AI job market is expanding, with tech companies accounting for 18% of office demand, a recent high. The city is home to over 2,000 AI startups, and the most in-demand roles include AI/Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, and AI Product Manager. - For engineers building with AI, popular open-source agent frameworks include LangChain, known for its modularity, and AutoGen for multi-agent collaboration. These frameworks provide the fundamental components for creating autonomous AI systems. - The rise of Vertical SaaS presents a significant opportunity, with AI being used to create specialized solutions for industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and real estate. These platforms focus on automating industry-specific workflows and solving niche problems. - In the NYC consumer and social app scene, some Y Combinator-backed startups are focusing on AI-driven experiences. For example, Housewarming is a social media platform using AI to foster closer connections between friends. - For engineers considering building a side project, a common strategy is to validate the idea and build a prototype while still employed full-time to maintain financial stability. This allows for market research and initial product development without taking on immediate financial risk.
